Picked all three up and just finished the first. And I agree with that statement, Sand 'I'd rather die than climb these stairs again' dan Glokta is definitely my favorite character so far.

And while I hope that the plot is going to pick up in the next book, I really love how character-driven this story is.

 

And here I was thinking I'd not find anything new to read for a while... And now I'm inundated.
So. Many. New. Books.

Ahem. It's been rec'd already, but the Honor Harrington series by David Weber is excellent. I've just finished the fifth one, and they're very consistent in their awesomeness.

More recently written is a book called I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells, in which the main character is a fifteen year old sociopath. The sequel is Mr Monster, which I also liked, and the third book in the trilogy is due to come out this year.

Skulduggery Pleasant very much belongs to the Teenage section you'll find it in, but you can't go wrong with a wise-cracking, sarcastic, skeleton detective as a main character. It's funny, and good for a light read.

 

The Passage is freakin' amazing.

Read it. Read it now.

Official Description:

Expanded description of the first part of the book, very spoilerish for the start:

Spoiler

The story opens in 2016 A.D. (or 5 B.V. in Cronin Count) with the discovery of a virus found in some nasty Bolivian bats that has the disagreeable effect of transforming you into a rampaging, blood-drinking beast that glows in the dark. But don't call them vampires, they're virals. You'd think that the sensible response to this discovery would be to napalm the bloody jungle, but since when was the military ever sensible in apocalyptic fiction? No, the army thinks the whole thing is totally awesome and wants to create a new breed of soldiers by reengineering the virus and promptly begins the usual "let's-create-indestructible-super-soldiers" experiments on death row inmates they've shipped to super-secret underground labs in Colorado to start Project NOAH. Predictably, the project goes kablooey: the subjects break free. But before this happens, there's another subject to worry about. Amy Bellafonte, an orphan child abandoned by her mother at a Memphis convent, is located by morally conflicted FBI Agent Brad Wolgast, who is ordered to transport her to Colorado. The military's medicine men got the feeling that the virus's development might be easier to control and direct in the developing system of a child, because things aren't exactly working out as planned with the prisoners, to put it mildly. But the military will never know the effects of the virus on Amy - which are indeed profoundly different - once all hell breaks loose.

The second part of the book picks up about 90 years later with an abrupt jump in locale and tone because large parts of the American population are wiped out.

 

I liked The Passage quite a lot, but Cronin should send Stephen King royalties. Also, be warned that it ends on a cliffhanger, and book two isn't due out until some time next year.

 

Damn, I was hoping it would be out by this summer.

 

I'm not sure if this was mentioned before (the Old Kingdom series was mentioned definitely, so I'm treading carefully here), but I'll rec this series:

The Keys to the Kingdom by Garth Nix.

Genre: Fantasy (mixture of Urban with Low Fantasy and Steampunk/Clockpunk)

Intended Reader: Children/YA (10+), but adults can still enjoy the series, much like with HP

Status: Series of Seven Books - Completed

Books:

1.) Mister Monday
2.) Grim Tuesday
3.) Drowned Wednesday
4.) Sir Thursday
5.) Lady Friday
6.) Superior Saturday
7.) Lord Sunday

Summary: The asthmatic twelve year-old, Arthur Penhaligon, was always a sickly outsider, an adopted orphan who has never been to a school longer than a year. However, after a man attired in Victorian clothing saves him during a potentially fatal asthma attack, Arthur is forced to travel into the depths of the House - a world of Steampunk-esque magic and the epicentre of the Universe. Arthur must defeat the seven Trustees who control the House and wrest from them their seven Keys, before it is too late.

Pros: Cool Biblical motifs, such as the Seven Deadly Sins (one is assigned to each Trustee) and the Seven Virtues (one is assigned to each part of the Architect's Will, which Arthur has to rescue from the Trustees). The seven Keys to the Kingdom are also nicely individualised in their magical powers, appearances, and specialties. The trials Arthur faces in the climaxes of each of the books are also very well done.

Cons: Drags a bit in some parts, especially in Mister Monday's mid-section and Drowned Wednesday (we don't care what Leaf is going through). The later books have much better pacing, however, and there is practically no dragging by Superior Saturday/Lord Sunday.

This series is not quite as good as the Old Kingdom series, but still definitely worth a read. It is underrated drastically, and deserves as much attention as series such as Percy Jackson or Inkheart.

 

Keys to the Kingdom was pretty good, iirc. Then again, I only got to about halfway through Sir Thursday before I got distracted by something or another... The dragging does get boring. And very annoying, because it's obvious that if you can get past the drag, the story becomes interesting again.

 

I know what you mean. The dragging, especially in Sir Thursday, makes you want to bash your head in. But, as I've mentioned in my post, the later books F/Sa/Su do not have this problem. Apparently, Nix realised that he needed better pacing, so the later books have practically no drag.

A rare example of a series that improves as it goes on. Friday, I think, is the opposite of a Jump the Shark moment. Arthur finally gets his head together and

Spoiler

retains one of the Keys, instead of giving it to Dame Primus. And he chooses to pre-emptively deal with Lady Friday, instead of waiting like a sitting duck for the inevitable.

The villain whom I think as the Big Bad, Superior Saturday, also becomes very proactive from Friday onwards; I've always been peeved by how the Morrow Days don't seem to see a trend that is happening, and do not actively try and kill Arthur before it is their turn. But Saturday is Genre Savvy, Thank God.

Do what I did and skip parts of Thursday, probably the worst book in the series. The important parts of the reclaiming of the Will and the business with

Spoiler

the Piper

, so read those, but try to skip ahead.

Trust me. Friday and the last two books are worth it. Especially the Grand Finale in Sunday. Definitely not a Crapilogue, trust me.

 

Okay, so I just did a quick search, and so far there have only been about 2 one line rec's for Philip K. Dick. This must be rectified.

Philip K. Dick is a prolific author who wrote lots of small novels about science fiction. He had four of his books adapted into movies. His work is mostly about the nature of humanity and the nature of reality. His protagonists are usually world weary losers who struggle to overcome powers far larger than themselves, usually for themselves.

Some particular novels I'd recommend are 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' which was the book Blade Runner was based off, as well as 'The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch', and 'Ubik'.

There is some serious mindfuckery about here. After reading the above three (which came in a helpful anthology from my library) I spent about a day just trying to convince myself I was not a robot, dead, or hallucinating my entire life. Trippy shit.

Also, Dan Simmons books Ilium and Olympos. Three separate storylines about a group of independant machines in the outer solar system, the controlled remains of the human race on earth in the far future, and the curiously different events of the Iliad are all happening at the same time. Very interesting and strange mythology.

 

He does? Oh thank God. I got very much peeved with the fact that he always gave the Keys to Dame Primus, and never did anything pro-actively. Also, I just don't like Dame Primus. So it's good to know she doesn't hold all the Keys.

This. Definitely this. Good to know it changes. I'm going to have to go get my hands on the series again...

 

Oh, trust me, Saturday is proactive in Lady Friday. She did start intervening in Grim Tuesday, but when Friday tries a Batman Gambit, Saturday goes Badass on everyone who stands in her way.

And Arthur starts to distrust Primus massively from Friday onwards. He finally clues in and realises that the woman is a self-righteous BloodKnight Templar. So, to Primus's frustration, he retains the previous Key in the last three books

Spoiler

(Thursday's baton in Friday, Friday's mirror in Saturday, and Saturday's quill in Sunday)

Trust me, the Grand Finale in Lord Sunday will make you go "wtf, holy crap Dame Primus is one Chessmaster and Lord Sunday is a sunuvabitch!"

Just skip the boring parts of Thursday and move on, because the series actually improves. Hell, even the last parts of the Will are more likeable; they actively help Arthur. It's Fridge Brilliance, that the most dangerous/helpful parts of the Will are imprisoned by the most capable members of the Morrow Days.

 

Clever. And I'm definitely skipping stuff, the rest sounds awesome. Yay, more books to add to my list of "Things I must read".

 

I figured that this would probably be the best place to ask.

I have about a week off from coursework/work, and I'm trying to decide what book series to start, I'm between Inheritance Cycle which I've heard is good action/adventure/romance type of thing, or Dresden Files, which someone said I'd probably enjoy, bear in mind I'm female, 19, and like fantasy type of things.

Thank you very much in advance.

 

I haven't read either series, but it's frequently recommended on this forum that if you do read Dresden Files, you're better off skipping the first three books. Jim Butcher wrote them for a writing class or something, so they're pretty rough. Book 4 and onwards are looked on very highly.

You could also try his other series, Codex Alera. http://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=17866

 

... That being said, they lay a lot of ground work for later entries in the series. Truth be told, Eragon is, quality wise, no better than the first couple Dresden books. I found Eldest was a large step up in quality, but that's mostly because the world-building took a huge step.

In other words, no real difference in quality to start.

Beyond that:

If you want straight-up high fantasy in the vein of Tolkien, Inheritence is a cycle for you.

If you would prefer an urban fantasy with a smart-mouthed badass narrator who makes frequent allusions to Tolkien, Dresden yourself.

 

Don't bother with Alera. The beginning and the ending are horrid.

As for Dresden, ignore Yak. There... are some pretty important details to the overall plot of the series in the first three books.

 

I really enjoyed Fool Moon, the second book in the Dresden Files series. Hell, I enjoyed all of them to some extent - my favorite being a toss-up between Dead Beat (book 7), Turn Coat (book 11) and Changes (book 12 and the latest).

They're not perfect, and yes, the first book is sort of weak, but it's been a hell of a fun ride so far, at least for me.

I haven't read The Inheritance Cycle, but I have it on good authority from a 9-year-old Cub Scout in my son's Pack that it's pretty damn good. :-\

 

Eragon is okay, if cliche ridden.

The other books are beyond bad. They read like bad fanfiction.

Rec: loads of people know about Trudi Canavan's Magician's Guild series. But not so many seem to be aware of her Priestess of the White trilogy. I actually think that this triology is much better. Highly recommended.

 

Oh, on the Inheritance cycle: reading the third book, Brisingr, is amazingly useful if you want to learn how to write filler. I got through three quarters of the book and realized that nothing had happened yet. I don't know how Paolini does it.